Conflict of laws

Exclusive jurisdiction agreements

The decision of the Court of Appeal in Craft Enterprises (International) Ltd v Axa Insurance Co [2004] EWCA Civ 171 was on the proper interpretation of a choice of law and exclusive jurisdiction clause in an open cover. The difficulty was that the clause provided that the terms of the clause could be varied by the holder of a certificate issued under the open cover, and the question was whether the assured itself was entitled to take advantage of the variation if it happened to be in possession of a certificate and, if so, whether the variation applied to jurisdiction as well as to choice of law.